Toy bell



May 27, 1952 L. w. HUBBELL TOY. BELL 2 SHEET SSHEET 1 Filed Sept. 20, 1950 INVENTOR 1552/5 W fluaaaz BY 2 M A ORNEY L. W. HUBBELL May 27, 1952 TOY BELL 2 SHEETS-SHEET 2 Filed Sept. 20, 1950 INVENTOR 1551/5 M/. Huaaflz ATTORNEY Patented May 27, 1952 TOY BELL Leslie W. Hubb'ell, Cheshire, Conn., assignor to The Ball & Socket. Manufacturing 00., West Cheshire, Conn, a, corporation of Connecticut Application Sleptemher20, 1950, Seria1-No. 185,824-

1 Claim,

This invention relates to toy bells which are preferably stamped from sheet metal, and the method of assembly thereof.

It is the object of the present invention to provide sheet metal bells used as toy novelties for difierentpurposessuch as for badges, Christmas tree ornaments, toys. and the like, which are rugged and; economical in construction and ca;- pable of easy assembly. we

It is another object; of the present invention.- to provide a bell housing which is preferably drawn, stampedor pressed from sheet, metal and which embodies as an integral part thereof at least one supporting strap stamped outwardly from thehead end of the bell housing to operate as. a supporttherefor. In addition, the head end; the bell has a recess formed therein which is provided with. abutments at the opposite ends thereof serving. to engage and support the terminal shoulders of a bifurcated spring clip; which extends downwardly into the bell, and which clip serves as a support for a drawn sheetmetal' tongue or clapper having a. continuous: eye: threaded onto. and. supported. by the spring clip.

The instant invention presents an improve.- ment over the sheetv metal bell construction diss closed in my prior application, Serial No. 85,331, filed April 4, 1949, now abandoned, by virtue. of the 'positivesupport afiorded thev tongue orclapper by means; of theengagement of a continuous eye on the clapper, which is not slotted. in any. part: thereof, and which is maintained-in place within the. bell under all typesof usage and, operation-by virtue: of'the resilient and. springy retention of the wire clip. onto; the head; end of the bell-at parts thereof which are. shielded from; disengagement by virtue of the recessediseais in the bell-for the ends of the wire clip.

It isa fur-therobjectofthe present invention to provide toy bell constructions in which the component parts thereof may be assembled quickly, expeditiously and with certainty to-=obtain products of low cost and yet those which will maintain their integrated conditions despite hard usage.

ther objects and. purposes will appear from the detailed description of the invention following hereinafter, taken in conjunction ith the.

accompanying drawing, wherein are-M OFFICE Fig. l is. a front elevation of the bell in accordance with the present invention;

Fig. 2'is a plan view of Fig. 1';

Fig. 3 is a vertical sectional view along line 3-3 of Fig. 2;

Fig. 4 is a vertical sectional view along line 4-4 of Fig. 2;

Fig. 5 is a. front elevation with certain parts in. section showing the mode of assembly of the component. parts of the bell;

Fig. dis a plan. view of a second. embodiment of the invention;

Fig. 7 is a vertical sectional, view along line l..l of Fig- 6;-

Fig. 8 is a vertical sectional view along line 8.8. of Fig. 6;

Fig. 9' is a front elevation with certain parts in section showing the mode of assembly of the component. parts ofthebell illustrated in Figs. 6 to 8;

Fig. 10 is a plan view of' a modification of the bell-housing of'Fig. 8; and

Fig 11 is a partial vertical sectional View along line l ll lof Fig. 10.

A sheet metal'bell I, having a top 2 and mouth 3, is shaped from a flat sheet metal disc in successive operations, as generally described in the above-mentioned application, Serial No. 85,331,

which operations may be performed on a conven-..

tional eyelet machine of the type disclosed in U. S. Patent No. 2,275,681. The bell housing I is formed with two spaced integral supporting straps 4 bowed. upwardly from the top 2' of the bell housing, which serve as a support for the bell.

The edges or abutments 5 between the ends of the strap 4 on the top of the housing 2, are prefa erably recessed slightly to form seats for theends or terminal shoulders 12 of a bifurcated spring wire clip which may be formed; of a tempered steel wire of circular or any other cross-section, having bifurcated arms ll extending from the bight l3- and functioning as a suspension for the tongue or clapper of the bell.

The clip is normally biasedto a distended position, as shown in Fig. 5, so that when the. same is inserted into the bell housing, the arms H and the terminal shoulders l2 exert a resilient and springy action to. maintain the. wire suspension firmly in engagement with thetop 2 or the bell housing and particularly by the seating of the ends or shoulders I 2 in the seats 5 provided therefor, which ends are additionally protected by the ends of the supporting straps on each side of the seats 5.

A pressed metal tongue or clapper, formed of an integral piece of sheet metal in successive stages, as described in the above-mentioned application, is formed with a gong or sounding end iii, a stem 1 having an off-set portion 8, and an eye 6 which is continuous and which need not be slotted in order to be threaded into engagement with the spring wire suspension therefor.

The use of a continuous eye on the tongue or clapper, to provide a secure engagement therebetween and the support therefor, eliminates the most frequent cause of faulty bell assemblies when such are manufactured and assembled in accordance with the practices disclosed in the above-mentioned application. In addition, the suspension of the tongue or clapper G from a relatively thin wire, provides a knife edge support for the clapper, and makes possible a higher degree of unrestricted movement for the tongue, and consequently imparts better sounding qualities to the bell.

In Fig. 5 is shown the method of assembly of the component parts of the bell, which is rapid and secure in operation and which immediately reveals any defects or faults in the component parts of the unit, in order that a bell, once properly assembled, will be maintained in this state over a long period of use.

As shown, the tongue or clapper i i is fixed in a jig J, consisting of a fixed bracket having a vertical arm 22 integral with a horizontal base 23, which is affixed to a bench or table 25 by means of fastening screws 25, and a rockable arm I6 pivotally mounted on arm 22 by means of bolt IS. The rockable arm I6 consists of a central portion with lateral arms I! and I8 extending therefrom and a finger I 5 extending from one side of the top of the arm IS and directed towards the central axis of the fixed arm 22. A recess I4 is provided near the upper end of arm 22 to accommodate the gong I therein so that the stem I may be placed closely adjacent to the face of arm 22. The bottom edges of lateral arms I? and I8 are formed as a large obtuse angle so that the rockable arm is capable of only a limited rocking movement, the table serving as a stop therefor in its alternate movements. As shown in Fig. 5, a downward. movement on arm I'I, following the insertion of the gong Ill into recess I4 has caused the rockable arm to move in a counter-clockwise direction to bring the finger E in front of stem '1 to clamp the latter between finger I5 and arm 22 and thereby to fix the tongue in the jig. The cut-out below the finger I5 eliminates any interference between the rockable plate It and the gong I0 and offset portion 8 of the tongue, With the tongue in fixed position, the bell housing is placed over the jig with the eye 6 between straps 4 of the bell housing. The lateral edge 2| on the fixed arm 22 and edge 28 on the rockable arm IE5 permit the bell to rest on the jig so that the eye [6 of the tongue extends above and between the straps I. Thereupon the clip is threaded through the eye 6 and when the bell is raised slightly, the ends I2 of the clip are pressed towards each other and are seated between the ends of the straps A, and into seats 5 which may be provided therefor, and with the tongue engaged thereby within the bell housing.

A blow on the lateral arm I8 releases the tongue from the jig and permits the complete removal of the assembled bell, in readiness for the insertion of the next gong into opening I4 and the clamping thereof by striking arm I1, to repeat the above-described operation.

The suspension wire may be formed of different gauges, in dependence upon the diiferent sizes of the bells. The wire, while preferably of circular cross-section, may be square or of any other form. The configuration of the suspending portion of the clip may be varied as desired; the same may be circular, angular or curved to any desired degree. When it is desired, the bell may be dismantled by contracting the arms I I in order to unseat them from the supporting edges on the top of the housing.

In the embodiment of the invention illustrated in Figs. 6 to 8, a single supporting strap 34 is stamped from the head end 32 of the bell housing 3| leaving a substantially rectangular opening 30 in the plane of the head end 32. A pair of depressed seats 35 are formed at the midpoint of the opposite sides of the opening 30 and extend in a direction transverse to the longitudinal axis of the strap 34. These seats accommodate the terminal shoulders l2 of the spring clip C having arms II and intermediate bight I3 similar to the spring clip described above. The spring clip supports a tongue or clapper having a continuous eye 8 with intermediate portions 1 and 8 and gong I0, as described above.

The bell embodiment shown in Figs. 6 to 8 may be assembled on a jig of the same construction as explained above and as illustrated in Fig. 9. However, in this case, when the gong is clamped in the jig by means of finger I5 and arm 22 embracing stem 1 therebetween, and the bell housing 3| is dropped thereover, the single strap 34 is supported by the continuous eye 6 and leaves the central opening through the latter for the threading of the spring clip C therethrough into a position whereat the terminal shoulders I2 overlie the depressed seats 35, which shoulders are sprung into seating engagement by a lifting movement of the bell housing.

If desired, the single strap support 34 may be stamped with a groove 40 substantially along its entire length in order to simulate the appearance of a divided strap support as shown in the embodiment illustrated in Figs. 1 to 4. In either case of the last two embodiments, the strap support formed of a single width of metal is stronger than that afforded by the multiple strap supports 4.

It is also within the purview of the present invention to fabricate the bell housings with or without the clapper of any sheet material capable of being worked like metal and which will attain some but not all of the functions of a bell. This would be the case if the bells were fabricated of sheets of plastic material of different colors to obtain desired ornamental effects even though the sounds would not be characteristic of metallic bells. Such bells, if desired, could be coated with metallic layers, similarly to the ornamentation of the metallic bells with suitable finishing coatings such as colored lacquers, bright metallic dips, electroplating coatings and the like.

This application is a continuation-in-part of .my application Serial No. 174,760, filed July 19,

1950, now abandoned.

While I have described my invention as embodied in specific forms and as operating in a specific manner for purposes of illustration, it

, should be understood that I do not limit my in-' 5 vention thereto, since various modifications will suggest themselves to those skilled in the art, without departing from the spirit of my invention, the scope of which is set forth in the annexed claim.

I claim:

A bell of sheet material comprising a bellshaped housing having an integral supporting strap stamped upwardly from the head end thereof and forming an opening in the plane of saidhead end, depressed seats at the mid-points of the opposite sides of said opening extending in a direction transverse to the longitudinal axis of said supporting strap, a spring wire clip having a pair of resilient arms normally biased to 15 2,510,559

6 distended position and terminating in shoulders for seating within said depressed seats, and a clapper having a completely closed eye in engagement with the lowermost point of said wire clipand freely swingable thereon.

LESLIE- W. HUBBELL.

REFERENCES CITED The following references are of record in th 10 file of this patent: V

UNITED STATES PATENTS Number Name Date 419,767 Gofi Jan. 21, 1890 Garthwait June 6, 1950 

